Questions answered for newbies about grading services
wingedliberty
Posts: 4,805 ✭✭✭
Recently, there have been numerous questions by newbies regarding which grading services are
the most reputable and which graded coins they should buy.
Here are the facts.
PCGS, NGC , & ANACS.
reasons.
1. Market acceptance both sight seen and sight unseen.
2. Grading consistency.
3. Grading guarantees and authenticity guarantees and how they honor their guarantees.
4. Visibility and ethics of the individuals involved. Their knowledge and reputation and accessability
at shows. Educational resources provided by these people for the hobby.
5. Quality of the holder and customer service.
A numismatic legend once told me, "Buy the coin and not the holder, but when selling a coin
(which we or our heirs will eventually do), the dealer/buyer is more likely to buy the holder. Why?
Answer: quick turnaround and more money, which is the goal of most dealers.
The above is not my opinion, but a fact. If you don't believe me , check the following resources.
and prices realized
1.Ebay
2.Teletrade.
3.The Blue sheet
4.Numismedia
5.Coin Wolrd ads
6.Numismatic News ads.
7.Yahoo coin auctions.
8.Local/regional/national coin shows
9.National auctions/ coin show auctions/prices realized.
etc,etc,etc,etc,etc,etc,etc,etc...................................................
I hope this helps the novice collector not repeat the same mistakes that all of us seasoned collectors
made at one time.
Brian.
the most reputable and which graded coins they should buy.
Here are the facts.
PCGS, NGC , & ANACS.
reasons.
1. Market acceptance both sight seen and sight unseen.
2. Grading consistency.
3. Grading guarantees and authenticity guarantees and how they honor their guarantees.
4. Visibility and ethics of the individuals involved. Their knowledge and reputation and accessability
at shows. Educational resources provided by these people for the hobby.
5. Quality of the holder and customer service.
A numismatic legend once told me, "Buy the coin and not the holder, but when selling a coin
(which we or our heirs will eventually do), the dealer/buyer is more likely to buy the holder. Why?
Answer: quick turnaround and more money, which is the goal of most dealers.
The above is not my opinion, but a fact. If you don't believe me , check the following resources.
and prices realized
1.Ebay
2.Teletrade.
3.The Blue sheet
4.Numismedia
5.Coin Wolrd ads
6.Numismatic News ads.
7.Yahoo coin auctions.
8.Local/regional/national coin shows
9.National auctions/ coin show auctions/prices realized.
etc,etc,etc,etc,etc,etc,etc,etc...................................................
I hope this helps the novice collector not repeat the same mistakes that all of us seasoned collectors
made at one time.
Brian.
0
Comments
Russ, NCNE
and it sets us apart from practitioners and consultants. Gregor
My biggest mistakes have always been buying high grade coins with less than average eye appeal. I will never do that again!
I only buy coins now that have superb eye appeal. These are the coins that will sell easily in spite of what the holder says. I will not pay good money for a coin just to fill a date that is not superb. I would rather have the date open than have a sore thumb looking back at me. Finally, I am absolutely willing to pay a premium for these coins, I feel in the long run it is very much worth it.
<< <i>What about ICG? They RULE in Franklin halves. >>
Nyuk Nyuk
I fell prey to ACG and a couple of the others very early in my adult collecting experience. I found out the hard way. Fortunately, the losses were only on a few coins, and only a few ten-spots.
I like the good guys' holders, I respect their opinions (almost all the time), but I trust my own eyes for what I like. So I tend to marry the three together as best as possible for a given price, looks, grade consistency (brand of holder) and price (in that order).
At least, that's what us junior Bears do. I find the PCGS holders are the easiest to fit in one's front paws for gazing and glancing.
I think PCGS has the most submissions and the greatest volume. PCGS seems to be the favorite for modern coins and although they have graded coins of all dates seem to be "top heavy" with the moderns. If anyone can produce statistics that dispute this, please reply (no bias on # of coins per span of time). PCGS grades well.
NGC has been IMHO consistent throughout. I many years ago thought, PCGS slabs seem to be more well sealed? I had some NGC slabs with what seemed like Super-Glue extruding beyond the seems. Well that doesn't bother me now because I have seen Most NGC slabbed coins accurately graded. I have heard many times "buy the coin, not the slab". Well, the Slab offers some assurance* (* some slabbing co's are suspect and have to be closely scrutinized - I think ACG leads the pack) for an opinion on 3rd party interpretation. But, I have to agree... The coin in the slab matters. NGC has been a Favorite of mine.
ANACS, IMO, has been very careful to consider many parameters in the grading of coins and seems to be caught "between a rock and a hard place". In my opinion (and considering my knowledge of Foreign coins) ANACS has been very conservative "in getting the grading right". I have to plaudit ANACS for keeping their standards consistent and acknowledging a coin cleaned, tooled, altered, etc... Why the other grading services don't I don't know.
Danreller
Russ, NCNE